Meet Abraham Lincoln

By Leigh Johnsen, on July 10th, 2013

Who's your favorite president? Mine is Abraham Lincoln. I have lots of reasons for admiring Lincoln, but two of the most important are his success at preserving the Union and the measures he took that led to the abolition of slavery.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-65).

Talking with Lincoln would be quite an experience. History depicts him as a tall, strong, and intelligent man gifted with a sense of humor that carried him through crisis after crisis, not only in politics and war, but also on a personal level.

The closest you and I will ever come to meeting Lincoln will be this coming Saturday, July 13, on Center Stage, at the California State Fair, in Sacramento. Starting at 11:45 a.m., Lincoln scholar and actor Jim Getty will depict the sixteenth president in a "Conversation with Abraham Lincoln." Lincoln's interviewer will be the Honorable Vance Raye, administrative presiding justice of California's Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District.

Afterward, a military honor guard will escort the President to the California Room, where he will receive visitors, shake hands, and answer questions.

This program commemorates the 150-year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address, as well as the fiftieth anniversary of Martin Luther King's speech, "I Have a Dream." After the conversation with Lincoln, Ken Morris, a descendent of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, will talk about the life of Douglass.

A "Conversation with Lincoln" is part of a civic education and public outreach initiative of California's Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District. Other partners include Journey to the Past, the California Judicial Center Library, the California Supreme Court Historical Society, e.Republic, and the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives.